Firstly, I just wanna say thank you so much for all the feedback on my note. It really means so much to me that ya'll are enjoying this story and want to read more! Alsoooo, if you wanna be friends please PM me! (especially if you're from the UK) I need more friends hahah. Thank you so much again:) Hope you enjoy
Shelby glanced at the time and saw it was nearing 5pm, Brittany was still asleep on the couch and little Santana had come out to play. She was hesitant at first because she had promised her girlfriend that she would be big all day, but Shelby had managed to convince her that Brittany wouldn't mind her being little, since big Santana had spent all morning and most of the afternoon with her. Shelby knew that Brittany wouldn't want Santana to be struggling to stay big and keep her little self hidden away.
Quinn had woken up from her nap after an hour and was currently sitting behind Santana and braiding the babies hair as best she could, which became a lot easier once Shelby had put on cartoons to keep the one year old from moving her head so much and trying to crawl away.
"Mama come look!" Quinn called through to the kitchen where Shelby was starting on dinner. She put the chicken in the oven before walking into the living room, she was genuinely impressed by the braids Quinn had managed to do.
"Wow honey, those are super cute" she praised, "maybe you'll have to do Mama's hair one day" she added with a wink and a kiss to blonde hair.
"Yes please Mommy!" Quinn replied excitedly, Shelby's hair was way longer than her little sisters, it would be so much fun to braid!
"Mama nums?" Santana asked with wide hopeful eyes when she heard Shelby's voice and noticed her standing behind her.
"It's almost dinner time sweetheart" Shelby confirmed, knowing that Santana probably hadn't eaten much at the carnival and must have been pretty hungry by now. Santana whined but accepted the answer and turned back to the TV, raising her hand to her mouth and suckling on her fingers.
Shelby went back into the kitchen to prepare the veggies and rice to go with the chicken that was still cooking in the oven, she was thankful that the kitchen joined onto the living room so she didn't have to worry about leaving them alone and could keep an eye on the girls whilst she was in there. Brittany whined as she woke up, slightly confused about why she was on the couch and not in her bed and the whereabouts of her clothes, she didn't mind though, naked was much more fun than clothes.
She frowned and rubbed her tired eyes with her fists, "mama?" she called out huskily, noticing how warm and stuffy she felt. "Coming baby" Shelby called from the kitchen, happy that the toddler had woken up by herself before dinner.
"Hi cutie butt, good nap?" Shelby cooed, crouching down next to the couch and stroking back blonde hair from her little ones face. Brittany didn't answer or open her eyes but reached her arms up blindly towards where she could hear Shelby's voice, sighing contently when she felt her mama's familiar arms pick her up and hold her close.
"You're a little rosy baby girl, are you feeling okay?" Shelby asked worriedly, knowing she wouldn't get a straight answer. Brittany, unlike Quinn and Santana who would make a huge fuss if they didn't feel good, never knew how to explain what she was feeling. As she had expected, the three year old simply shrugged and took in a stuffy sounding breath through her nose before nuzzling her face into Shelby's neck. Shelby checked that Santana and Quinn were still occupied by their cartoons before carrying Brittany into the bathroom and grabbing the thermometer from the cabinet.
"Sweet girl, Mommy is just going to put this in your ear okay?" she asked gently, swaying the girl to and fro on her hip. Brittany opened her eyes and lifted her face from Shelby's neck, nodding tiredly.
Shelby was pretty sure that ear thermometers were the best creation ever, her girls would never open up for mouth thermometers and would always cry and scream, the ear ones however didn't bother them at all. It was a much easier experience for everyone.
Brittany whined and pulled away when thermometer beeped in her ear to signal two minutes, "sorry princess, that's not a nice noise" Shelby agreed. She was relieved to see that Brittany's temperature was 99.5, definitely higher than normal but not anything to worry about just yet. Shelby gently squeezed the front of her pull up to check it was dry before kissing Brittany's cheek and setting her down on the living room floor to play with her sisters whilst she finished making dinner. She decided to just leave the toddler without any clothes, Brittany didn't seem to mind and Shelby hoped it would help bring her body temperature down a little.
"Dinner time, bubba's" Shelby called through from the kitchen laughing when all three of her girls appeared at the baby gate in record time. She opened the gate and let them through into the kitchen, picking Santana up and gently slipping her into the highchair and strapping her in.
"Mama mama" Santana babbled happily, giggling harder when her Mama tickled her neck. Shelby smiled and cooed back at her youngest, "someone's a smiley girl this evening!". Happy babies were the best.
"Are you cold? Do you want clothes baby?" she asked Brittany, bending down to pick her up and strap her into her booster seat after receiving a cheeky giggle and a "nuh uh, I a nakie baby Mommy". Shelby placed Quinn's and Brittany's plastic plates in front of them, each with cut up veggies, rice and chicken before putting Santana's food on her high chair tray.
"Mmm this chicken is yummy Mama!" Quinn squealed after taking her first bite, Brittany nodded in agreement, "mhm nummy rice!".
Shelby smiled, she loved when her girls ate without a fuss, "well Mommy's glad her hungry lions love it" she replied. As usual Shelby fed Santana, taking bites of her own food in between times and talking with her eldest two about anything and everything their little minds could think of. By halfway through dinner Brittany's face, hands and chest were covered in rice and Shelby was suddenly glad the girl hadn't wanted to wear clothes, although she knew she would have to get in quick with the wipes and clean Brittany up after she had finished eating to avoid a mess related meltdown.
Shelby was pulled from her thoughts when Santana suddenly began coughing and gagging, she quickly stood up and put her finger in Santana's mouth, emptying it of food so she didn't inhale it before listening carefully and making sure she could breathe and something wasn't completely blocking her airways. After hearing she could breathe and it was just coughing, Shelby started patting her firmly on the back until she stopped coughing.
"You okay honey?" she asked, voice laced with worry. It wasn't the first time the baby had choked on her food, she wasn't the best at chewing things thoroughly in her little mindset and Shelby had tried to talk to big Santana about switching to baby food instead of solids for little San but she wanted to eat like her sisters. She would definitely have to bring that subject up again next time she saw big San.
Santana nodded, breathing deeply to catch her breath and pouted up at her Mama, red faced and watery eyed, "uppie?" she whimpered holding her arms out and making grabby hands. Shelby could tell Santana was scared and upset so she unstrapped her from the high chair and lifted her onto her lap for the rest of dinner.
"She okay Mommy?" Quinn asked nervously, bot her and Brittany staring at Santana wide eyed. It always frightened them when Santana choked, Shelby didn't blame them, it scared the shit out of her too.
Shelby nodded and smiled to reassure them both, "she's okay sweetie, she just got a piece of rice stuck I think" she explained calmly, knowing it would freak them out more if she made a big deal about it. Quinn frowned, unconvinced but went back to her own dinner, sneaking little glances at Santana every so often to check she was really okay.
"Mommy is it gonna snow?" Quinn asked curiously a few minutes later. The weather had been gradually getting colder lately and Quinn had heard that there may be snow when Shelby had been watching the news channel earlier.
"Yeah sweetheart, it's supposed to snow tonight when you girls are tucked up in bed" Shelby answered, catching a piece of chicken that flew out of Santana's mouth.
"We go out'ide in da snow?" Brittany gasped looking at Shelby with wide begging eyes.
"Of course silly" Shelby was actually pretty excited herself, none of their little selves had seen snow yet and she couldn't wait to see their reactions.
"We all done Mama" Brittany said proudly pointing at her plate and then towards Quinn's, both empty except for a few pieces of rice. Shelby smiled happy that Brittany's slight fever hadn't affected her appetite and that she didn't seem to be feeling sick.
"Well done babies" she praised, wiping them both down before sending them off to pick the movie for the evening whilst she cleaned the dishes. Santana crawled around the kitchen floor, content to stay with Shelby rather than going off with her sisters. Shelby looked down when she felt the girls little hands using her leg to pull herself up to stand, "hi Mama" she smiled at Santana and ruffled her messy brown hair.
"You scared Mama so much little stinker" she whispered quietly, voice laced with emotion as she looked into those wide, innocent dark eyes. "Mama's gonna have to start chewing your food for you" she joked, laughing when Santana threw a disgusted look up at her and dropped onto her padded butt, shaking her head before crawling off into the living room to find her sisters.
"Mommy is it milk time yet?" Quinn asked breaking her gaze from the TV, the family were watching the Sesame Street movie (Brittany's pick of course) cuddled up together on the couch. Shelby nodded and gently moved out from under the three girls, stretching out her muscles before going into the kitchen and making a warm bottle for Brittany and a warm sippy cup for Quinn. She secretly added a dose of baby medicine to Brittany's bottle, hoping to bring her fever down more, she hadn't gotten any warmer but she was definitely still a little clammy and more rosy cheeked than normal.
"Mamaaaa" Santana whined impatiently pulling at Shelby's shirt when she saw her sisters drinking their milk.
"Use your words little one" Shelby prompted gently, she knew Santana wanted milk but she had been trying to get her to use more words to explain what she wanted. Over the past few weeks Santana had gradually used less words and would just whine repeatedly until Shelby figured out what she wanted or needed.
Santana frowned, her face crumpling as little tears began pooling in her dark eyes, "oh sweet girl, it's okay. Just tell Mama what you want" Shelby cooed, using her thumb to wipe away the tears.
"M-mama boob" Santana whimpered brokenly, patting at Shelby's chest again.
"Good girl" she praised, moving Santana to a comfortable position before lifting up her shirt and unclipping her nursing bra. Shelby smiled contently as her little one latched on, times like these were her favourite, cuddled on the couch with all three babies and watching a movie.
The next morning Quinn snuck out of her bed, being careful not to wake her sisters, and scurried over to the window. She pulled back the curtains a little and squealed with excitement when she saw the layer of white snow covering the drive way and cars. She pulled on her robe over her jammies and grabbed Lambie from her bed and ran into Shelby's room, hopping up onto the bed and shaking her Mama awake.
"Mommy it snowed!" she whispered as quietly as a five year old could. Shelby groaned and pulled the covers up higher over her head, hopefully if Quinn thought she was sleeping she would settle down next to her and allow Shelby a few more hours of sleep. Shelby knew she had no chance of that when she felt Quinn slide beneath the covers and poke her stomach repeatedly whilst chanting "snow Mama! Snow!".
Shelby sighed thinking of the lost sleep before plastering a big smile on her face and rolling over and facing Quinn, it was too early to care a toss about a bit of snow but Shelby knew how excited Quinn was and she couldn't bare to ruin that for her.
"It really snowed honey?!" she gasped, taking in the wide green eyes and cheesy smile the five year old was wearing.
Quinn nodded ecstatically, "really Mama!" she promised, "let's go out and play in the yard!" she begged trying to pull Shelby out of bed by her arm.
"Honey, honey. Calm down, we need to get your sisters up and eat breakfast first" Shelby said sternly, it was too early for this. "And you can't go outside in your jammies silly" she added with a chuckle when she saw Quinn's face drop. Quinn laughed and agreed before asking if she could wake up Santana and Brittany, Shelby knew it wasn't a good idea for anyone to wake up San except for her so she allowed Quinn to go downstairs to watch cartoons in the living room whilst she woke the girls up instead. The five year old jumped at the chance to watch TV, which wasn't usually allowed until the afternoon.
Shelby opened the cracked door to the nursery and flicked on the light before going over to the window and opening the curtains, she went over to Brittany's toddler bed first but was confused when she found it empty. Brittany never left the nursery in the morning unless it was to go into Shelby's room. Her confusion was answered when she heard Brittany's light snoring coming from Santana's side of the room, she walked over, flicking off the girls nightlights as she went and peered into the crib smiling at the sight that met her.
Santana was passed out curled into Brittany's chest and the latter had one of her arms wrapped protectively around her little sister, their pinkies were tightly linked together which reminded Shelby of their older selves. They were both snoozing away, content in each other's arms. Shelby carefully pulled the crib bars down and knelt down on the floor, Santana grumbled as she woke up slightly and rolled over in the crib whining when she almost fell and her Mama had to catch her.
"Woah there baby, careful" Shelby chuckled, gently rolling the baby back onto the crib mattress. She rubbed gentle circles on Santana's tummy over her sleep onesie knowing she loved to wake up that way and smiled when the baby let out a jaw breaking yawn and rubbed her tired eyes with her fists, finally opening them to look up at Shelby.
"Mama" she whispered huskily, her face instantly lighting up when she saw her Mommy's face above her. Shelby smiled, she loved how happy her girls got when they saw her, their little faces were always so excited.
"Hi honey" she cooed back helping Santana to uncurl herself from Brittany and sit up, holding her steady when she swayed a little.
"Mama boob" Santana whined, rubbing her eye with one hand and pointing to Shelby's chest with the other.
"Already baby?" Shelby chuckled, "you haven't had breakfast yet little one" she added. Sometimes she just felt like she was a walking boob to the baby. Santana had previously gone through a phase of having a feed when she woke up in the morning before breakfast, but that had caused her to not eat much real food at breakfast time and lose a little weight so Shelby tried her best to get the antsy baby to wait until after breakfast.
Shelby lifted Santana from the crib and set her on the floor to crawl around and stretch out whilst she woke Brittany up, who was somehow still sleeping through all the commotion.
"Sleepy girl, are you gonna wake up?" Shelby teased gently pushing blonde hair away from Brittany's face. She still felt a little clammy to the touch but no worse than the day before, Shelby hoped she wasn't feeling bad, she didn't want a sick little one playing out in the cold snow. Brittany's baby blue eyes fluttered open as she turned over to face Shelby, pulling her blanket further over her when she shivered.
"Mama is cold" she whined scrunching up her face and yawning. Shelby nodded, "I know princess, it's cold because it snowed last night" she said keeping her tone soft.
Brittany gasped and sat up as quickly as she could, swaying much like Santana had, "let's go out'ide Mama!" she screamed excitedly, putting her hand over her mouth when Santana whimpered at the loudness of her sisters voice from her place on the nursery floor. Oops, Brittany forgot Santana didn't like loud noises when she was waking up, "I sorry Sanna" she apologised in a softer voice, hoping she hadn't put her little sister in a bad mood for the day.
"Good girl Bee" Shelby praised before adding "we can't go outside yet sweetheart, I have three hungry little girls who need their breakfast first" laughing when Brittany shot out of bed at the sound of food.
"C'mon you two, let's get your bottoms changed. You're both stinky this morning" Shelby teased, picking up Santana and setting her on her hip before taking Brittany's hand and leading her over to the changing table. She laid Santana down on the changing table and unzipped her onesie, gently pulling her legs out and laughing when Santana instantly stretched her legs out as much as possible. She untaped the dirty diaper and rolled it up, putting it in the diaper trashcan before grabbing the wipes from under the table and beginning to wipe Santana clean. The baby whined at the cold wipes and began to cry, kicking her legs in an attempt to get Shelby to stop.
"No Sanna don't cwy, is otay!" Brittany cooed in the same tone of voice that she heard her Mama use with Santana, she walked over and placed kisses all over her little sisters face to distract her from the cold wipe. Soon Santana's tears turned to giggles as she reached up to grab Brittany's hair as she leant over her.
"Thank you Bee Bee, you're a great helper" Shelby praised, genuinely thankful that her toddler had once again managed to calm Santana down for her. She quickly applied rash cream and powder and taped a clean diaper around Santana's hips, she fixed her clothing before lifting her down from the table and beckoning Brittany over to her, "your turn darling".
Brittany happily ran over and lifted her arms so Shelby could lift her onto the changing table. She quickly changed Brittany's diaper, cleaning her up thoroughly before replacing it with an Elmo pull up and lifting her down from the table.
Shelby was happy to see that Quinn was sitting quietly watching cartoons when she took the other two downstairs, she had been expecting a huge mess of toys by now considering Quinn had been left alone for 10 minutes. She settled Santana and Brittany with Quinn on the couch to watch TV and went into the kitchen to get some well needed coffee and start making breakfast, she decided on pancakes, the girls usually had healthy breakfasts so it would be a nice treat for them to have something different.
Shelby had just finished making the last pancake when she heard quiet babbling coming from the baby gate, she looked over to see Santana with her face pressed against the bars so she could see Shelby.
"Hi pretty girl" she cooed, Santana grinned lopsidedly and reached her arms through the gate towards her Mommy. Shelby smiled and lifted the baby over the gate, holding her in her arms and kissing her cheeks before dancing and twirling around the kitchen with Santana still in her arms, something that the baby had always loved. Santana squealed happily and giggled uncontrollably, clapping her little hands together.
"Okay baby, Mama needs to get your breakfast" Shelby told the girl before slipping her into the high chair and strapping her in, she spread a handful of cheerios on the tray to keep her little one busy whilst she cut up two pancakes for Quinn and one each for Brittany and Santana before plating them. She set the plates at the table before calling the other two through to the kitchen, she lifted them both over the gate and got Brittany settled in her booster seat.
Both Quinn and Brittany gasped excitedly when they saw pancakes on their plates, "Tanks Mama!" Brittany said before digging in.
"These are good Mommy" Quinn complimented after taking her first bite too.
"Mommy can we go outside when we done eating?" Quinn begged around a mouthful of syrupy pancakes.
"No talking with your mouth full babe" Shelby gently reprimanded before explaining that they had to go grocery shopping and that they could play in the backyard when they got home. Brittany and Quinn were happy with that answer and chatted excitedly to each other about how they were going to build a big snowman. Santana, however, grew quiet and stared at the left over pancake on her tray, suckling rapidly on her fingers desperately trying to find some comfort. Shelby noticed and knew that big Santana was nervous to leave the house as her little self for the first time, she placed a loving kiss to her brown hair before turning to Quinn and Brittany.
"Girls, it's baby Tana's first time leaving the house so I need you both to be kind to her and take care of her, okay?".
Both girls nodded, "we look after her Mama" Brittany said in the most serious voice a three year old could manage.
"Nuh uh, I'm the biggest so I look after her Britty, you're just a baby" Quinn said matter of factly, with an eye roll. Brittany's face instantly dropped and turned into a deep pout as she looked to Shelby, hoping her Mama would say Quinn was wrong.
"No Quinnie, that's leaving Bee out which isn't very kind. Would you like it if you got left out?" Shelby asked, knowing she had got her point across when Quinn thought for a moment then shook her head and patted a sad Brittany's back.
"Sorry Bee, you can help too" she told her with a smile. Brittany looked up hopefully and smiled too when she saw Shelby nod her head in agreement, "I big too" she whispered, not liking the fact that Quinn had called her a baby.
"Yep! You're three, that's a big girl" Quinn agreed with a nod, even though she still secretly thought Brittany was just a baby, she didn't want to upset her little sister anymore than she already had.
Soon enough the girls had finished breakfast and had been cleaned, dressed, teeth brushed and had their hair fixed and were in the car on the way to the grocery store. Santana was whining and softly crying in her car seat, she had become very clingy to Shelby after breakfast and wasn't impressed at all when she was put in her car seat away from her Mama. Shelby knew the girls clinginess and fussing was down to being anxious about leaving the house, she hoped the grocery trip would go without any hiccups so little Santana would grow more comfortable with leaving the house. Luckily the grocery store wasn't far from their house and Shelby was soon parking up the car, she quickly grabbed a cart before opening Brittany's door and unstrapping her from the car seat.
"Do I has to sit here Mama?" she pouted up at Shelby as she was put into the child seat in the cart, Shelby nodded and kissed her forehead.
"Sanna is going to sit with you too" she told her knowing it would cheer her up a little. She got Santana out of her car seat next and attempted to sit her next to Brittany in the cart, "C'mon princess don't make this hard on Mama" Shelby pleaded when Santana made her body rigid so her legs couldn't be pulled through the leg holes in the cart. Santana shook her head and began to get more and more worked up, she was scared and anxious and she wanted to be held, what part of that couldn't her Mommy understand?!
"Up up" Santana whined repeatedly, holding onto Shelby for dear life.
"If you sit next to Britty you guys can cuddle whilst we shop" Shelby tried, sighing in relief when the fussy one year old calmed at the sound of cuddles with her favourite person and allowed her to put her in the seat.
"Quinnie hold onto the cart or stay close to Mommy" Shelby told Quinn as they entered the store, the five year old was well behaved and never wandered off so Shelby didn't mind her walking around the store rather than being in the cart with her sisters.
"I know Mommy" Quinn said with a smile, wrapping her little hand around the waist of Shelby's jeans and walking alongside her.
"Mommy can we get candy?" Quinn asked a few minutes later as they passed by the candy aisle.
"If you're good girls you can get something small" Shelby agreed before looking down at Santana, the girl hadn't looked up from her lap for the whole 15 minutes that they had been in the store and was trying her best to hide behind her long hair.
"How about you baby? You want candy too?" Shelby asked softly, trying to get the girl to talk or at least engage with her in some way. Santana shrugged but refused to look up, it felt like everyone was staring at her, even though no one in the store had even noticed them. Brittany took a hold of Santana's hand and squeezed it gently, ducking her head to meet Santana's gaze and smiling before placing a long kiss on the girls pouty lips. Shelby smiled, she knew this was big Brittany trying to reassure big Santana that everything was okay, even in their little mindsets Shelby would notice when the girls bigger selves would peek through to communicate with one another.
"Do you want your paci sweetheart?" Shelby offered next, holding it up from where it was clipped to the baby's shirt, hoping the comfort item would calm her nerves a little. Santana instantly shook her head no, baby Santana would never say no to her paci but she just couldn't shake away the part of big Santana that was telling her not to bring any more attention to herself than necessary.
"It's okay, Bee has her paci too" Shelby assured her, pointing to Brittany's pacifier that was clipped to her shirt like Santana's was. Brittany nodded and quickly put it in her mouth, wanting to show Santana that no one was paying attention to them or what they were doing. She reached over and held Santana's up to her mouth too, clumsily wiping it along her bottom lip until the girl finally accepted it, calming considerably after getting into a rhythm of suckling. Shelby really hoped that she would eventually enjoy going out in her little mindset, trips to the park and zoo and Chuck E Cheese would be much more fun with all three of her little ones and she didn't want Santana to miss out on any more fun than she already had.
After a few more minutes Santana had gradually relaxed and was looking around curiously as Shelby pushed the cart, an older lady smiled at her and she blushed nervously and ducked her head but giggled softly.
"Mama Mama!" she said desperately pointing towards some baby apple puff snacks on the shelf as they went down the baby aisle. Santana loved those snacks and would eat them for every meal if she could. Shelby smiled, over the moon that her youngest seemed to be enjoying herself now.
"You want some of those cutie?" she asked not waiting for an answer before grabbing them from the shelf and putting them in the cart. Shelby grabbed some diapers, wipes and pull ups from the baby aisle too before going to the candy aisle, each of the girls were so well behaved so she decided to let them pick out one thing each. Shelby lifted Brittany from the cart and set her on her feet so she could pick out her candy with Quinn before turning to Santana, "do you want to get out too Princess?" she asked, knowing her legs must need stretching by now.
Santana nodded and held her arms up, "out Mama". Shelby lifted her out and set her on her feet, holding both of Santana's hands above her head so she could walk without falling.
"Mommy she's getting real good at walking with your help!" Quinn said, "maybe soon she will walk by herself!". The five year old had been trying to teach her baby sister how to walk on her own but hadn't been getting very far, Santana much preferred to crawl or be carried and would only walk if someone was holding both of her hands tightly.
Shelby nodded, "she sure is honey, I reckon it's all the lessons you've been giving her" she said with a wink. Santana clumsily walked along the aisle looking at all the candy options and not caring at all about anyone who may be judging her. Brittany came running over to them holding up a huge bag of cotton candy, "Mommy can i get dis?" she asked politely with a award winning pout and puppy eyes.
"That's a little big sweet girl, can you grab a smaller one?" Shelby said gently, not wanting to send her into a tantrum in the middle of the grocery store. Brittany whined and shook her head, "no Mommy! Want dis!" she said loudly, stomping her foot and frowning at Shelby. The woman raised an eyebrow at the toddlers attitude and set Santana on her hip so she didn't sit on the dirty ground before bending down to be eye level with Brittany.
"You need to lose the attitude and do what Mommy tells you or no candy and a time out when we get home" she told her sternly watching as Brittany looked into her eyes, clearly debating whether to continue the tantrum or back down. She shook her head again and growled, "no! I having dis!" she yelled, causing a few people to turn and look at them, making Santana's anxiety come back full force. The baby began to cry and tucked her face safely into Shelby's neck away from the judgmental stares.
"Brittany, you're upsetting Santana. This is your last chance, put the candy back and get the smaller one" she warned, bouncing Santana on her hip and rubbing circles on her back. Brittany frowned but stomped off to do as Shelby had told her, she wanted to argue back some more but she hated seeing Sanna so upset and she especially hated knowing that she was the one who had caused it.
"Shhh it's okay darling, pick your candy" Shelby said softly in Santana's ear, sighing when all she got was a head shake.
"Should Mommy pick it out for you?" she offered next, knowing that there would be another meltdown when they got home if Santana didn't pick any candy and saw her sisters eating theirs. This time she nodded and pulled her head from Shelby's neck, "Mommy pick" she whispered wiping her eyes with her fists and sighed heavily to catch her breath. Shelby picked out a small bag of Swedish Fish, Santana's all time favourite and added them to the cart before checking what Quinn had picked.
"What did my Quinnie girl choose?" she asked ruffling blonde hair lovingly. Quinn smiled up at her and showed her the small bag of sour gummy worms she had picked out, Shelby rolled her eyes, of course Quinn would pick the sourest thing she could find.
"Good girl, go put them in the cart" Shelby told her patting her butt gently to send her over to the cart. Brittany came back over to her as Shelby was putting Santana back into the cart and giving her her blankie from the diaper bag to keep her settled.
"Mommy" she said quietly, feeling guilty for her little tantrum as she held out a smaller bag of cotton candy to her Mama. Shelby took it and put it in the cart before lifting Brittany and putting her next to Santana in the cart again, "good girl, but I think maybe we should have a little time out when we get home for not listening to Mommy the first time" Shelby informed her, hating the sadness that washed over Brittany's face, still the girl nodded and whimpered a small "I sorry Mommy" before cuddling up to Santana and resting her head on top of hers.
By the time they had checked out and Shelby had pushed the cart to the car and packed the groceries in the trunk Santana was passed out in the cart seat and Brittany wasn't far behind her.
"Mommy there's so much snow!" Quinn said almost beside herself with excitement, Shelby nodded in agreement, "you're right sweetie, Mama will have to dress you up nice and warm to play in it". It had snowed a lot more since they got to the grocery store and Shelby kind of wished the two littlest girls were awake to see it, but she couldn't wait to get them all dressed up in their snow clothes to play out in the backyard after their naps.
Shelby gently took Santana from the cart and opened the car door, gently putting her into her car seat and strapping her in.
"Ma?" she whispered in a confused tone as she woke up a little from the movement. Shelby smiled and covered her with her blankie before gently pushing her pacifier into her mouth, "it's okay love, we're going home now. Go back to sleep" she said gently, thankful when brown eyes instantly fluttered closed again.
By the time they left the parking lot Brittany was fast asleep too and Quinn, although she would never admit to needing a nap, wasn't far behind, her head gently resting against the side of her carseat, too worn out to hold it up herself. Shelby was happy all three kids were sleepy, it meant she would be able to put the groceries away whilst they napped without any little hands trying to grab snacks from the bags.
Next chapter will be the girls playing in the snow! Thanks for reading3